


Darling, So it Goes

by punk_rock_yuppie



Series: fools rush in [1]
Category: Buzzfeed Unsolved (Web Series)
Genre: Almost But Not Quite a Get Together Fic, Established Relationship, F/M, Fluff, Humor, M/M, Multi, Podfic Welcome, Pre-Poly, Pre-Slash, Realization of Feelings, wedding fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-08-25
Updated: 2018-08-25
Packaged: 2019-07-02 08:54:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,519
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15793218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/punk_rock_yuppie/pseuds/punk_rock_yuppie
Summary: Shane has theworsttiming.





	Darling, So it Goes

**Author's Note:**

> so as i watched yesterday's unsolved ep, the first two lines of this fic struck me while ryan read off some theories, haha. at first, this was gonna be some sad angsty thing but i decided that would've just been boring, so why not make it a pre-poly/pre-slash fic instead! this is my first time writing sara, so i hope i did well haha
> 
> big thanks to hannah as always for beta'ing!
> 
> enjoy!

It starts when Ryan reads off his ‘best man toast’ in his Unsolved theory voice.

It’s all downhill from there.

Ryan smiles and laughs to himself as he speaks, just loud enough to be heard over the laughter trickling through the crowd. Shane can’t look away and his heart is beating fast enough to hurt. Shane’s hand around the champagne flute tightens to the point of pain; he doesn’t even notice his hand is shaking until Sara lays her fingers over his. He flashes her a quick grin in the face of her concern and turns his attention back to Ryan.

Ryan, who has set the theory voice aside and is continuing jovially, never once looking away from Shane and Sara. His voice starts to waver as his speech draws to a close and Shane, even from a distance, can see the tears misting Ryan’s eyes.

His own chest grows tight, and Shane covers up his nerves with a healthy swig of his drink. He feels bad because he only half-listens to Ryan’s toast; idly, amidst his panic, Shane wonders if Ryan will show him the notes later, so he can really appreciate it. Or maybe Ryan will read it again later. The thought sends a shiver running along his spine.

Shane is both grateful and pissed that Ryan had refused to read his speech the night before, at the rehearsal dinner. Ryan had insisted it needed to be a surprise and gave an approximate length for the sake of keeping the rehearsal dinner on schedule. Even when their wedding planner had tried to haggle with him, Ryan had stood his ground.

Shane doesn’t know if it would’ve been better to have his realization last night as opposed to today, the _day of his fucking wedding_. He can’t look at Sara, because she’ll be able to read him, see right through him. It’ll happen later, he knows, maybe on the dancefloor or maybe as they board the plane for their honeymoon. Shane can’t handle it happening right now.

Dimly, he’s aware of Ryan’s toast ending, and Shane sets his champagne flute aside. He claps, loud and boisterous, and stands to gesture Ryan closer despite all his instincts telling him not to. Ryan goes into the hug easily, and up close like this, Shane can see the faint tear tracks on Ryan’s face.

“Thanks, man,” Shane whispers.

“You totally zoned out, don’t lie,” Ryan whispers back with a wet laugh.

“It wasn’t because of you.” _Except it was._ “I just… realized something. Got distracted.”

The hug finally breaks as the applause die down. Ryan holds up his little cards of notes. “Well, it’s all right here if you wanna read it.”

Shane smiles. “Maybe you can read it again for me, later.”

Impossibly, Ryan’s cheeks flush. “Uh, sure.”

Shane squeezes Ryan’s biceps where they strain at the slim cut of his blazer. “Thank you,” he says again.

Ryan nods and takes a step back. Shane falls into his own seat as he watches Ryan wander back to his chair at the opposite side of the table. Sara’s hand lands on his shoulder and Shane finally faces her.

“You okay?” She asks softly as her own maid of honor stands and makes her way toward the microphone.

“Yeah, yeah, of course.” Shane reaches out and plucks her hand from his shoulder, brushes a kiss over her knuckles.

Sara blushes prettily and turns to face her friend without letting go of Shane’s hand. Shane entwines their fingers and listens to the second speech of the night.

He doesn’t hear a word, but he ‘ _aw_ ’s and ‘ _oh_ ’s at all the right spots and claps at the end. There’s a few more speeches to go: his brother, his father and Sara’s dad. Then it’ll be time for the first dance, and the cake cutting, and—

And Shane can’t stop looking at Ryan.

 

 

It gets better during the first dance. He and Sara sway to a well-practiced rhythm, even if the song is like bees buzzing in Shane’s ears for all that he can hear it. He loses sight of Ryan in the crowd and his jackhammering heart settles when he can no longer see the familar head of hair bobbing along to the beat. Shane puts all his focus on Sara: her purple curls and the lilac shimmer of her white gown. The careful makeup that she insisted on doing herself, and the way her smile turns crooked as she looks up at him.

His hands clench around her waist and he sighs to himself; this is what he wants. He’s happy like this, with her. He has been for several years. He leans in and presses his face against her hair and inhales deeply. She smells like their shampoo, the bottle that’s almost empty; they’ve been bickering over what to buy when it runs out. He smiles.

Her nails dig into his back through his dress shirt and keep him grounded.

Eventually the song ends, but Shane doesn’t pull away.

“Babe?” She asks quietly.

“A little longer?” He replies.

Sara only nods and leaves her arms wound around his shoulders. People make their way onto the dance floor now that the first dance is out of the way. The song shifts into something else that Shane still can’t be assed to listen to, and they keep dancing. In slow, rhythmic circles, even when he knows the music turns into something that’s more pop.

After a few slow dances, Sara pulls back and takes Shane’s hands. “You can’t slow dance to _this_ ,” she says, and he takes her word for it. He still can’t focus on the music. They dance, hopping around with their dress shoes squeaking on the polished floor. It’s great, and Shane’s anxiety is starting to wane, and then a hand lands on his shoulder.

Ryan stands behind him, and gestures to Sara. “Sorry man, can I steal a dance with her?” He winks, teasing, and Sara hurries into his arms. Shane holds his hands up in a playful display of surrender and backs away to watch them dance. Ryan has more rhythm than Shane and he leads Sara in rapid steps. Shane doesn’t know if it’s a real dance, but he’s not surprised to see Sara keeping up with Ryan’s every move.

The deep navy of Ryan’s jacket complements the purple in Sara’s dress, like it complements the purple in Shane’s tie. Shane swallows and his dry throat clicks; he can’t look away from the two of them and they’re starting to draw a crowd. Ryan’s athleticism translates well into dance and they’re a sight to see, something spectacular to watch. If he didn’t know better, for all their laughing and grinning at each other, Shane would think it was _their_ wedding day and not his.

The thought doesn’t cut as deeply as he thought it might. He’s never been the jealous type, far too laid back for that. He’s always been a live-and-let-live kind of guy, whenever possible. Plus, working at Buzzfeed blurs the lines a bit: lots of kissing videos, or videos with compromising positions. To be a jealous person _and_ work at Buzzfeed just doesn’t go together.

So, no, Shane’s not a jealous person. The sight of his wife and his best friend wrapped up together and twirling across the dancefloor doesn’t stoke any sort of fire in him.

Well, that’s not entirely true. It doesn’t stoke an _angry_ fire, spitting and acidic. Instead… it’s more like a fireplace, keeping a home warm and spreading the heat like comfort. Shane swallows again and tries to clear his thoughts: Sara and Ryan are drifting back to him, their reappearance announced by their giggling.

“Your turn, big guy,” Ryan says as he steps back from Sara. He bows first and presses a playful kiss to the top of her hand. “Sara, always a pleasure.”

She laughs again and then she’s shoving at Shane. “Go on,” she urges. As he stumbles away from the table he’s backed himself up against, Shane catches a glimmer in her eyes. Something that feels like permission, or acceptance, or, or, or—

“We’ll talk later,” she whispers to him before kissing his cheek. “Go have fun.”

Who is Shane to argue with that?

He lets Ryan tug him back into the crowd just as the song turns slow again. He looks to Ryan, half-expecting the other man to back out. Ryan’s come a long way since his ‘no homo’ days, but Shane still hasn’t grown out of anticipating the reaction.

Ryan only beams at him, smile as blinding and wide as ever, and tugs him along faster. They hit the center of the dancefloor just as the words start, and Ryan scrambles to get them situated.

“You need to lead,” Shane says as Ryan places Shane’s hands on his waist.

“You’ll be fine,” Ryan retorts.

“You’re literally so much better at this than I am, we’re going to fall and die. I’m going to trip and concuss myself on the floor. And die.”

Ryan snorts. “I wouldn’t let that happen.”

“Yeah, that’d be a bummer, especially today.”

Ryan rolls his eyes and pats at Shane’s hands on his waist. “It’d be a bummer any day, no matter what.” Then his hands are on Shane’s shoulders and they’re swaying like teenagers at prom.

Shane can’t quite look Ryan in the eyes; because of their height difference, because of nerves, because—

“Okay, yeah, no. This isn’t working.” Ryan leans back and rearranges them rapidly. He loops Shane’s arms around his shoulders and takes Shane by the hips. “Better,” he says approvingly, and then they’re at it again. But they’re closer, bodies pressed almost tight together, and they’re taking measured steps that turn the dancing into _actual_ dancing, not just standing in one spot and moving back and forth.

They dance through three songs, two slow and one fast that has Ryan urging Shane to bounce around with him, before escaping the dancefloor.

Sara is waiting for them at the same table as before, with three flutes of champagne. “You two looked good out there,” she says as she passes a glass to Ryan and one to Shane.

Shane drinks it greedily while Ryan catches his breath. “He’s not so bad these days,” Ryan says with a teasing kick at Shane’s shins.

Shane shrugs. “Helps when I’ve got a good partner.” He looks at Sara first, then Ryan, and holds their gazes equally long. It’s sort of unspoken, because he’s still figuring things out in his head, but he knows Sara understands.

The same blush from before stains Ryan’s cheeks, accompanied by a smaller, almost bashful smile. “Thanks,” he says. “I should go get some food or I’m gonna end up drunk on champagne. No one wants that.”

“Grab me some of those bread things!” Sara calls after him; Ryan raises a hand in acknowledgement. The moment he’s out of sight, Sara turns to Shane. “So.”

“So,” he says.

“Are you freaking out?” She asks as he takes his hand, the one not holding champagne.

“Yeah,” he admits. “A little bit.”

“Thought so.” She kisses him on the cheek again. “You don’t need to freak out. You guys have been approaching this for a while.”

Shane blushes. “I never noticed.”

Sara laughs. “I know. But I wasn’t gonna push. You had to figure it out for yourself.”

“But, today, of _all_ days?”

“Sure, your timing sucks,” Sara says with a grin. “But love waits for nothing.”

“ _Love_ —what—wait a minute—!”

“Shane,” Her voice is stern and Shane falls immediately silent. “I’ve been waiting for this. It doesn’t mean we’re breaking up. Or, I guess, getting divorced.”

Shane lets out a slightly hysterical laugh. It’s a reminder, despite everything around them, they really are married now. It’s not just breaking up. There would be _paperwork_.

Sara blows a raspberry in his face to get his attention before continuing to speak.

“It just means that you love Ryan too, and I’m okay with that. It’s not like he isn’t already around all the time.”

“He said he was gonna try and stay out of our hair after the wedding.” Shane frowns at the thought, just as he had when Ryan suggested it a few days prior.

Sara shrugs. “Tell him to stick around. Tell him we _both_ want him around. Because I do. I love having him around.”

Shane squeezes their interlocked hands. “Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Sara tilts her head up and kisses him on the mouth, achingly tender and soft. “Who knows, maybe I’ll even fall in love with him too.”

Shane’s heart kind of leaps at that, and it must show on his face. Sara giggles against his mouth and her breath tastes like the bites of cake she’s stolen and champagne. “Okay,” Shane says. His voice is barely more than a whisper. “Yeah. I can do this.”

“Do what?” Ryan asks as he appears beside them again. He’s got a plate laden down with a little bit of everything, namely hors d’oeuvres.

“Nothing,” Shane says, grunting as Sara elbows him in the side. “Nothing _yet_.”

Ryan raises a curious eyebrow and looks to Sara, who just shrugs.

“All in due time, little guy,” Shane says. He sets his champagne aside and reaches out to steal a mini pig-in-a-blanket off the tray.

Ryan only looks more confused but after a beat he just rolls his eyes. “You two are so fucking weird.”

“Hey, I’m not the one being cryptic,” Sara argues.

“You’re covering for him, though. That’s just as bad.”

“I’m his wife, it’s kind of my job to save his ass from time to time.”

Shane lets himself tune out. Sara’s hand is soft in his and Ryan is a steady weight beside him. He listens to the buzz of their good-natured bickering and lets himself revel in the moment. The music is faint and soothing and the sway of couples is like a gentle wave; the lights aren’t harsh and instead delicate, painting the room in shades of golds. He’s got his two favorite people with him and good food and good champagne. It doesn’t really get better than this.

“Is he drunk already?” He hears Ryan ask.

Shane opens his eyes. He’s not sure when he closed them. “Drunk on happiness.”

Ryan scoffs. “You’re so stupid,” he says affectionately.

Shane shrugs. “You love it.” He grins at Sara, then Ryan. The significance in his stare feels less unspoken, this time.

Ryan blushes again. “Shut up.”

“Nah,” Shane says easily. Maybe he is a little drunk because he feels too loose-limbed to be as freaked out as he was before. He untangles his hand from Sara’s and throws his arm around her shoulders; he pulls her against his side, and then does the same to Ryan, who goes along with only a slight squawk of indignation. “You’re stuck with me. Both of you.”

Sara tucks her smile against his neck and Ryan grins up at him.

“Yeah,” Shane says, mostly to himself even though he knows the other two can hear. “Both of you.”

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Darling, So it Goes [PODFIC]](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15812892) by [bessyboo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/bessyboo/pseuds/bessyboo)




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